Oakland
Judge confirmed to federal bench: More than 600 days after President Barack Obama first nominated him, Oakland native Edward Chen was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to a seat on Northern California’s federal bench Tuesday.
The vote was 56-42. Four Republicans — Scott Brown, R-Mass.; Susan Collins, R-Maine; Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska; and Olympia Snowe, R-Maine — joined Democrats in supporting Chen, a Marin County resident.
Chen, 58, has served as a U.S. Magistrate Judge in San Francisco since 2001; earlier, he had been a staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union since 1985, and an associate at the firm of Coblentz, Cahen, McCabe and Breyer from 1982 to 1985. He clerked for 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals Judge James Browning from 1981 to 1982, and for U.S. District Judge Charles Renfrew from 1979 to 1980.
Republicans long had refused to allow a confirmation vote for Chen because of what they perceived as his liberal background, especially his ACLU association.
Obama first nominated Chen on Aug. 7, 2009, but the nomination was stonewalled in the Senate. Obama renominated him in January 2010, a third time in September, and a fourth time in January.
Chen earned a bachelor’s degree from UC Berkeley in 1975 and a law degree from Cal’s Boalt Hall School of Law in 1979. He is a Democrat.
Federal judges serve lifetime terms and earn an annual salary of $174,000.
— Josh Richman
San Carlos
Heart attack claims mayor: San Carlos Mayor Omar Ahmad died from a heart attack Tuesday morning, shortly after calling 911 from his home, the city announced.
Paramedics responded to the call and transported Ahmad, 46, to Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City, where he was pronounced dead upon arrival.
He had presided over a City Council meeting Monday night. Vice Mayor Andy Klein said Ahmad did not say anything at the meeting about feeling bad and appeared to be in his usual good spirits.
“We’re all pretty shocked here,” Klein said. “No one saw this coming.”
Ahmad was elected to the council in 2007 and became mayor in December 2010 — the second Muslim mayor of a U.S. city. He also was on the board of the San Mateo County Transit District and was vice chairman of the Peninsula Corridor Joint Powers Board.
Ahmad, who was single, was born in Ohio and grew up in Florida, where his siblings still live. He moved to California in 1998 to work for @Home Networks, according to city records. Ahmad also worked at Napster, Netscape and Grand Central Communications, and he founded TrustedID, Logictier and SynCH Energy.
The city’s flags were lowered to half-staff Tuesday.
— San Jose Mercury News
Eureka
Attack on clerk called hate crime: Authorities are seeking two men suspected of assaulting a gas station clerk of East Indian descent, calling him a “jihadist” and saying he was angry Osama bin Laden was dead.
The Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office is looking for 32-year-old Jamie Sean Hunt and 30-year-old Jeremy Lee Schweizer, whom they say also tried to pay for their gasoline on Sunday with a counterfeit $100 bill.
The sheriff’s office said the men became angry after the clerk refused to accept the phony bill, then hurled the epithets and punched him.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations condemned the suspected attack, and urged the FBI to open an investigation.
The men are wanted on suspicion of a hate crime, robbery, attempting to pass a fraudulent document and assault.
— Associated Press
